70 samples of widely used medications were of sub-standard quality in study finds of Central Drugs Standard and Control organization. The national drug regulatory agency reports that 1,375 medication samples from various production facilities were analyzed last year in December. 70 ( 5 percent) of them were determined to be not of standard quality while 1305 were determined to be of standard quality.
Indian pharma companies whose drug samples were found to be of substandard quality Maiden in Himachal Pradesh. Five samples of cough syrup taken from a manufacturing unit of pharmaceuticals are included. In the South African country Gambia, more than 80 children died after drinking cough syrup. The medicine of the company of Sonipat, Haryana was received through Maiden Pharma.
These allegations were followed by an investigation by the Union Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation. Since then, the production of cough syrup by Maiden Pharma has been banned. The drug department has taken precaution due to its branch being in Manpura. As a test, samples of five different batches of the medicine made in the company were taken. These did not meet the standards.
Apart from cough syrup, samples of commonly used antibiotics such as ofloxacin and vitamin tablets and folic acid syrup sold by some companies were also found to be ‘not of standard quality’ by the Central Drugs Standard and Control organization.
The Central Drugs Standard and Control Organization said in November that out of 1,487 samples, 83 (6 per cent) were found to be of sub-standard quality. Medicines which were found to be of low quality included antacids, antibiotics and BP medicines. Out of 1,280 drug samples tested in October, 50 (4 per cent) were found to be of substandard quality.
27, 39, 48, 27, 41, 26, 53 Quality of drugs samples tested by Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) in the months of January, February, March, May, June, July, August and September , 45 and 59 respectively.
